Your Best Labor Day Bargains

The long weekend offers plenty of chances to save

This Labor Day weekend will see sales across all sorts of shopping categories.

It may not produce the shopping volume of Black Friday, but Labor Day weekend has become one of the best times of year to score great bargains on all sorts of items. As students and teachers head back to school and stores try to move summer seasonal items off the shelves to make room for fall merchandise, there are loads of deals to be had.

According to the National Retail Federation, the back-to-school sales period, which includes Labor Day weekend, represents the second-largest consumer-spending season on the calendar, behind only the holidays. That means shoppers can expect to have ample opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labor this weekend, at a discount. Here are some of this year's best deals.

Best Buy is offering a $300 gift card to customers who spend $3,000 on three appliances and a $400 gift card to those buying four appliances valued at $4,000 or more. It's an online offer to add the gift card to your cart before checkout. The site is also cutting prices on some Samsung appliances by up to 10 percent and offering up to $600 off appliance packages from LG and up to $400 off on KitchenAid packages.

Lord & Taylor is offering 20 percent off all items (including those already on sale) with the promo code "LABORDAY20." The discount will work both online and in store. The retailer is also slashing the prices of select women's clearance items by 25 percent.

Dr. Scholl's has discounted prices on select sandals by as much as 50 percent and will ship them to you for free, to boot. So you can feel good about relieving those tired feet after all those summer walks.

Amazon is offering up to 70 percent off select items in dozens of categories.

Home Depot has made steep cuts to appliance prices, including discounts of up to 40 percent on select refrigerators and up to 35 percent off select washers and dryers.

Online retailer Wayfair.com has 70 percent off mattresses, outdoor furniture and area rugs.

There are other good deals to be had on mattresses this weekend, which is second only to Memorial Day weekend when it comes to saving on sleep merchandise. Sleep Number is offering up to half off in what it touts as its biggest sale of the year. And a percentage of all in-store purchases made at Houston-based Mattress Firm stores will go toward helping Hurricane Harvey victims. The chain has pledged to give $1 million worth of pillows, blankets and mattresses to storm victims.

While there are electronics deals to be found this weekend — such as up to 25 percent off 4K UHD TVs at places like Sam's Club and BJ's— industry analysts advise waiting until closer to the holiday shopping season, when even bigger discounts on items like televisions, laptops and tech gadgets will be offered.

In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails
related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly
receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free
to search for ways to make a difference in your community at
www.aarp.org/volunteer